Window-screen.



No. 756,085. PATENTE'D MAR. 29, 1904. M. G. VAN AUKEN & J. J. MILLER.

WINDOW SCREEN. APPLICATION FILED mm 21.. 1'903.

N0 MODEL.

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UNITED STATES;

Patented March 29, 1904.

PATENT OF ICE.

MELVIN Gr. VAN AUKEN AND JAY J. MILLER, OF BATTLECREEK, MICHIGAN.

WINDOW-SCREEN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 756,085, dated March 29, 1904. Application filed June 27, 1903. Serial No. 163.306. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we,MELvIN G.VAN AUKEN and JAY J. MILLER, citizens of the United States, residing at Battlecreek, Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in VVindow-Screens, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to window-screens, the object of the same being to provide an improved device of this character which is constructed entirely of metal, which is capable of lateral expansion and contraction to adapt the same for use in windows of different widths, which is capable of sliding up and down opposite both the upper and lower sashes of the window, and which is adapted to be frictionally held or sustained to any point to which it may be moved. a I

A further object ofthe invention is to provide a simple and convenient means of attaching and detaching the guide-rods from the window-frame.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter appear, and that which we regard as new will be set forth in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of the specifi cation, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a window-frame, showing our improved screen mounted in the opening therein. Fig. 2 is a detail view of the screen, partly broken away andwiththe side strips thereof removed. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view,-the section being taken through one side of the screen. Fig. 4 is a similar view looking upwardly, the section being taken through the window-frame above the screen. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. I, with the thimble in which the upper end of the guide-rod is mounted shown in a different position. Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of one of the thimbles in'which the guide-rods are mounted, and Fig. 7 is a detail sectional view showing the socket in which the lower end of one of the guide-rods fits.

Like reference-numerals indicate like parts in the diflerent views.

Our improved screen is made up of a sheet 1 of wire-netting or other reticulated or open work material, having secured to its upper and lower edges the strips 2 and 3 of sheet metal or other like material, These strips 2 and 3 are folded around the upper and lower edges, respectively, of the sheet 1 andare secured to said sheet by rivets 4. or other analogous devices. Extending along one of the side edges of the sheet 1 from the upper to the lower end thereof is a strip 5 of sheet metal, the same being secured to the sheet 1 and to the strips 2 and 3 in any suitable manner. This strip 5 is provided with one or more elongated slots 6, and the strips 2 and 3 are provided with similar elongated slots in vertical alinement with the slots 6. Covering and protecting the side edges of the sheet 1 and forming partsof the screen-frame are the side strips 8 and 9 of sheet metal, the same being-similar in construction to the topand bottom strips 2 and 3, heretofore referred tothat is, the strips 8 and 9 are made from sheet metal and are bent around the side edges of the sheet 1 and around the ends of the strips 2 and 3. The strip 9 is firmly and rigidly secured to the sheet 1 of wire-netting by means of rivets 10, which extendthrough said sheet and through the twov leaves or wings of the strip 9. The strip 8 is connectedto the body of the screen, with provision for lateral movement, by means of the rivets or bolts 11, which extend through the slots 6 and 7, registeringv with openings or passages in the sheet 1 and through both leaves or wings of the strip 8.

It will be seen that the screen thus produced is strong and rigid, that there are close joints between the different parts thereof, and that the same is capable of lateral expansion and contraction to adapt the same for use in window-openings of different widths.

The vertically-disposed side strips 8 and 9 of the screen-frame are bent or folded at their centers along the extreme sides of the screenframe to form substantially circular passages for the reception of the guide-rods 12 and 13. This construction is most clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The said guiderods 12 and 13 are mounted in fixed position. within the opening in the window-frame and are arranged as closely as possible to the side walls of said opening. They are capable of ready application to the window-frame and of equally as ready removal therefrom. To accomplish this result, the sill or bottom wall of the window-frame is formed on each side with a socket 14. for the reception of the lower end of each of said rods, which socket is covered and protected by a horizontally-disposed faceplate 15, having an opening therein which registers with said socket. The upper ends of the rods 12 and 13 are held in place within thimbles or socket-pieces 16, formed upon plates 17 pivotally mounted in the upper wall of the openingin the window-frame, as shown. Each thimble 16 is located at one end of the plate 17, on which it is formed, and is provided with a side opening or passage 18 leading into the same. Each of the plates 17 is pivoted at 19 at a point intermediate its ends and is provided with an opening 20 adjacent to the end opposite the thimble 16, through.

which a pin, nail, screw, or other like securing device may be passed for holding said plate in locked position. WVhen the parts of the device are in operative positions, the guiderods 12 and 13 extend from top to bottom of the opening in the window-frame, the side strips 8 and 9 of the screen-frameembrace said rods, and the screen is movable thereon. At this time the lower ends of the rods 12 and 13 are seated in the sockets 14 and the upper ends of said rods are seated in the thimbles 16, which thimbles are swung outwardly, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4 of the drawings, with the lateral openings or passages 18 therein lying in close relation to the inner walls of the opening in the window-frame. The plates 17, which carry the thimble 16, are locked in the positions last described by driving nails or other like securing devices through the openings 20 in the plates 17 into the lower surface of the upper rail of the window-frame. To remove the rods 12 and 13, and consequently detach the screen from the window, it is merely necessary to remove the securing devices from the plates 17 and swing the latter inwardly.

upon their pivots 19 until the openings or passages 18 in the thimbles 16 are exposed, as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, when the upper ends of said rods may be readily slipped outfrom the thimbles in which they were formerly located. This movement will of course necessitate a slight inward movement of the upper ends of the rods 12 and 13; but when the screen is in its lowermost position, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, this movement of said rods is permissible both by reason of the springy nature of the material of which said rods are made and by reason of the fact that the screen as a whole is capable of lateral expansion and contraction.

To apply the screen to a window, the rods 12 and 13 are introduced into the tubular openings or passages along the sides of the strips 8 and 9, the lower ends of said rods are placed in the sockets 1 1, the thimbles 16 are moved inwardly to the positions shown in Fig. 5, the upper ends of said rods are slipped into said thimbles by passing the same through the lateral openings 18, the thimbles 16 are swung back into the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 4, and the securing devices for the plates 17, on which the thimbles 16 are formed, are applied.

To provide for the retention or support of the screen in any position to which it may be moved, we secure to the side edge of the sheet 1 opposite the strip 5 adouble leaf-spring 21, which when the parts of the device are assembled bears at its free ends against the guiderod 13. Frictional engagement is thus had between the screen and one of the fixed guiderods on which it slides, which tends to hold the screen at any point within its range of movement. We may of course use any other suitable form of spring than that shown; but when a leaf-spring is employed we prefer to secure the same in place by means of'a short strip 22 of sheet metal, which surrounds one edge of the sheet 1 of reticulated material, em.

braces both the spring 21 and said sheet, and is secured to the latter by riveting or in any other suitable way.

Having now described our invention, What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A window-screen consisting of a sheet of wire-netting, metallic strips bent around the upper and lower edges of said sheet and lying in contact with the opposite faces thereof, metallic strips bent around the two side edges of said sheet and lying in contact with the opposite faces thereof. and connecting devices extending through said sheet and through both wings or branches of said strips, the looped portions of the side strips having their upper and lower ends open, being located beyond the ends of the top and bottom strips and the side edges of said sheet, and forming guiderod passages.

2. A window-screen consisting of a body ineluding a sheet of open work material and having elongated slots along one of the sides thereof, and metallic strips bent around the side edges of said body, one of said strips being connected to said body, with provision for lateral movement,by connecting devices which pass through the two-leaves of said strip and through said slots.

3. A window-screen consisting of a sheet of wire-netting, metallic strips bent around and secured to the upper and lower edges thereof, each provided with an elongated slot at one end, a connecting-strip between said metallic strips lying along one of the side edges of said sheet and having an elongated slot therein between the slots in said metallic strips, and metallic strips bent around the two side edges of said sheet, the looped portions of the latter strips having their upper and lower ends open,being located beyond the ends of the top and bottom strips and the side edges of said sheet,and one of the same being connected to the body of the screen, with provision for lateral movement,

by connecting devices which pass through the two leaves of said strip and through said slots.

4. The combination with a pair of verticallydisposed guide-rods mounted in the opening of a window-frame, of a window-screen mounted to slide on said rods, the said screen comprising a body of open-work material, metallic strips embracing and connected to the side edges of said body, the looped portions of said strips having their upper and lower ends open, being located beyond the side edges of said body and embracing said rods, and one of said strips being rigidly secured to said body and the other being connected thereto with provision for lateral movement, and a spring connected with saidbody, located between the two parts of the'rigidly-connected strip, and bearing against the adjacent guide-rod, as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination with a windowframe having sockets in the sill thereof, and a win dow-screen, of a pair of guide-rods on which said screen is mounted to slide, whose lower dow-screen, of a pair of guide-rods on which said screen is mounted to slide, whose lower ends are adapted to fit within said sockets, and pivotally mounted laterally swinging thimbles for the upper ends of said rods, the said thimbles cooperating with the window-frame when in one position, for retaining said rods in place, as and for the purpose set forth.

7 The combination'with a window-frame having sockets in the sill thereof, and a window-screen, of a pair of guide-rods on which said screen is mounted to slide, whose lower ends are adapted to fit withinsaid sockets, thimbles for the upper ends of said rods having side openings or passages therein,the said thimbles being movable away from the side walls of the opening in the window-frame to expose said passages and being movable toward said side walls tocover said passages,and means for retaining said thimbles in the latter position, as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MELVIN Gr. VAN AUKEN. JAY J. MILLER. Witnesses:

JAMES H. MILLER, GEORGE W. HILL. 

